You may have noticed the nice little picture of Tim in the last post (Intervention in the Secondary Classroom). Tim and I both love this website, and our blog together, but, as he is growing as a seller/blogger we decided we needed to make it easier to tell who was blogging. We will continue to place both of our products on TpT under my name; it just works out easiest for us at this time! But, you can decide if the blog post is just right for you by looking at the picture on the left!

So, let's talk Common Core Math Intervention. Now, I get the whole uproar over the government telling us what to teach (I said I get it...doesn't mean I agree or disagree). But, I really have, personally, enjoyed the switch over to Common Core Math standards. I really get the progression of them.

One of the main reasons I think I get them so well is because of a great idea that Tim had that I created last summer. I was leveling books for my classroom library - I know, real exciting summer vacation! - and I was remarking on how it is SO easy for me to teach each of my students reading concepts at their individual level (we use Fountas and Pinnell's levels along with reader's workshop). I just wished there was an F&P for math. So, Tim being Tim, said "why don't you make one?"

What a great light bulb moment! So I created these, easy to use intervention assessments for my students. There are 4 quick questions that are grade level appropriate. At the beginning of a unit I pull out this pre-test and we spend a few minutes at teacher group time (I do math workshop) taking the pre-test for the unit. I also pre-test for the actual CC strands, but this just gives me an overall idea of where the student is struggling.

For example, if I give Julie the pre-test for 4.NBT.4, which happens to be adding multi-digit whole numbers, and she fails it I don't know what part of adding is hard for her. Can she add two digit numbers, three digit numbers, etc. By giving her the addition leveling test I can see where she is on the spectrum of adding. Same goes for Steven that gets 100% of them correct. How far forward should I take him? By giving him the leveling test I can tell if it's just 4th grade adding he really understands or if he needs more challenging 5th or 6th grade adding.

How do I use the data? These intervention tests let me know on the spectrum of learning where the students are. It helps me form guided math groups and how much remediation/extension work I need!